Proverbs for Kwanzaa Umoja (Unity) December 26: Day One of Kwanzaa
United family eats from the same plate. —South Africa (Zulu) Unity is strength. —Zanzibar Unity among the cattle makes the lion lie down hungry. —Africa Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable. —Tanzania, Kenya A person is a person because of other persons. —Lesotho “The heavens will fall" is not the concern of only one individual. —Africa The wisdom of the white man depends on togetherness. —Ghana
Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) December 27: Day Two of Kwanzaa
To ride a horse is good; to walk on your own feet is better. —Mali No one can scratch your itch or convey your message like yourself. —Ethiopia If you rely on someone else's soup pot, you go to bed hungry. —Ghana (Akan) If you borrow a man’s legs, you will go where he directs you. —Africa If your hand is in someone's mouth, you do not hit him on the top of the head. —Ghana Each firefly lights its own way. —Haiti If you want your eggs hatched, sit on them yourself. —Liberia (Jabo) Blessed are those who can please themselves. —South Africa (Zulu)
Ujima (Collective Work & Responsibility) December 28: Day Three of Kwanzaa
Ants are tiny, but they lift things that are many times their size and weight. —Africa What is looked for by many will have a finder. —Uganda (Ganda) When minds are the same, that which is far off will come. —East Africa If one kindles the fire, others take live coals out of it. —Ghana (Twi) If birds travel without coordination, they beat each other’s wings. —Kiswahili When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. —Ethiopia Thin and lean strings when braided together can tie up the mighty lion. —Ethiopia The failure of snakes to travel in groups makes it easy for humans to kill them with machetes. —Africa Two skinny and weak dogs can overcome a fierce animal. —Burundi (Rundi) Make a bed for the children of other people in the place where your own children sleep. —Morocco
Prepared by the authors of Lifelines: The Black Book of Proverbs (available- online and in stores- wherever books are sold). For more proverbs, or to receive a free daily proverb, please visit: LifelinesProverbs.com. Download this document from: lifelinesproverbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Kwanzaa-Proverbs.pdf. You have permission to copy and distribute this document as long as this footer remains visible and intact.
Proverbs for Kwanzaa | 2
Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) December 29: Day Four of Kwanzaa
If you sell a drum in your own village, you get the money and keep the sound. —Madagascar Money does not stay in one place. —Ghana (Akan) No one in the presence of a large sum of money goes hungry to bed. —Ghana (Akan) If ten cents does not go out, it does not bring in one thousand dollars. —Ghana (Twi) You gain interest only on what you invest. —Lesotho You cannot get rich if you look after your relatives properly. —Native American (Navajo) Little and often fills the purse. —Tanzania (Zanzibar) Generosity is wealth. —Africa One person does not build a town. —Ghana (Akan) Eat alone, hungry alone. —Virgin Islands
Nia (Purpose) December 30: Day Five of Kwanzaa
Accomplishment of purpose is better than making a profit. —Niger, Nigeria (Hausa) A good purpose is like a doctor and evil purpose corrupts. —Tanzania (Zanzibar) If you do not build your house firmly, you are afraid to sleep in it. — Ghana (Twi) If the dance is pleasing, even the lame crawl to it. —Ghana (Twi) The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people. —Ghana (Ashanti)
Kuumba (Creativity) December 31: Day Six of Kwanzaa
The wind and the imagination can travel far and wide at no cost. —Ethiopia Although the snake does not fly, it has caught the bird whose home is in the sky. —Ghana (Akan) A stumble is not a fall. —Haiti Do not stop children having fun; otherwise, they will also stop your serious work. —Gambia (Mandinka) The creator of a dance should not be excluded from it. —Ghana (Akan) A creature is not completely created until death. —Kiswahili If you don't desire a thing, you will never get it. —Africa
Imani (Faith) January 1: Day Seven of Kwanzaa
It is the body of the wind that people do not see. —Uganda The trees that are growing are tomorrow’s forest. —Zambia The following day begins with a lot of hope. —Uganda, Congo The darkness of night cannot stop the light of morning. —Burundi You don't give up to despair before God. —Burundi Anticipate the good so that you may enjoy it. —Ethiopia Only a fool believes that the clouds obscure the splendor of the moon. It has shined behind them for eternity. —Africa
Prepared by the authors of Lifelines: The Black Book of Proverbs (available- online and in stores- wherever books are sold). For more proverbs, or to receive a free daily proverb, please visit: LifelinesProverbs.com. Download this document from: lifelinesproverbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Kwanzaa-Proverbs.pdf. You have permission to copy and distribute this document as long as this footer remains visible and intact.
